President Donald Trump said Friday that demonstrators gathering for the annual March for Life on the National Mall “have my full support.”
“The #MarchForLife is so important. To all of you marching --- you have my full support!” Trump wrote on Twitter Friday morning.
Vice President Mike Pence and counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway are both scheduled to address the marchers gathered for Friday’s rally, held each year to commemorate the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that made abortions legal in the United States.
Just as past Republican presidents have done, Trump had been scheduled to address event via telephone. But a White House spokesman said Friday that the president is not scheduled to call in with remarks. Instead, the spokesman said that Trump will meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May at that time. He also noted that Pence will be the first sitting vice president to attend the event.
Before entering the political arena, Trump described himself as being “very pro-choice” and even on the campaign trail, acknowledged an argument used regularly by supporters of abortion rights, that “people will perhaps go to illegal places” to terminate pregnancies if the practice is outlawed.
But Trump has largely been unflinchingly anti-abortion since entering the political realm and his decision to appoint Pence, who fervently opposes abortion, as his vice president has added to his credibility.